I always enjoy reading Seth Godin’s blog.  Sometimes funny, sometimes, serious, and frequently thought provoking.  One of his recent posts entitled Be Careful Who You Work For hit home when he said:

How many job offers with good pay have you turned down in your lifetime? How many clients? Compare that to how many times you’ve been rejected. That’s totally out of whack. Great marketing involves having a great product, and not every job (or every client) is worth your time or attention or love.I wish I had read this post earlier this year. But maybe I wouldn’t have appreciated it till I went through this experience.

We started working with client this past spring, our single biggest at that time. While I was excited about the revenue, there was this nagging feeling; we were not a great fit. A feeling I initially ignored as I deposited the retainer check in the bank.

The problem: they wouldn’t listen to us. Everything we recommended, they changed and changed, and changed, till the end product did not even resemble something we thought was a good idea. They nagged, and bullied, and monopolized our time. When the phone rang, everyone in the building tensed, hoping it wasn’t them.

When I wasn’t’ worrying about “That Client” I was nursing the emotional health of my team. The whole process was exhausting, and three months into the relationship we parted ways.

And while I missed the retainer check, I, along with my entire team, began to have fun again. It took a few months to recover, but today, I can honestly say, we have great clients, every one of them is worth both our attention, and love.

We will grow, perhaps more slowly because we will be selective, but we will enjoy the growth!

Thanks to Kyle Lacy I found out it is Blog Day.  This world wide celebration is designed to introduce great bloggers to each other, and novice bloggers to some of the best writers and thinkers on the net.

Kyle has already commented on some of my favorites:

Mike Fruchter at My Thoughts on Social Media:

Erik Deckers. The Laughing Stalk.

The Marketing Technology Blog by Douglas Karr.

They would all be in my top five, but the point of this activity is to introduce new blogs, so check out Kyle’s description of those, and then here are some others that make my top list.

1. Kyle Lacy – Ok, so I am not sure I would even know what a social network was if it wasn’t for Kyle.  An avid, possibly compulsive web junkie, he is continually trying out new sites, and sharing his opinions.  Which may include humor, attitude, and more than a little sarcasm.
2. Louis Gray - Who describes his blog as a Silicon Valley Blog for early adopters, technology geeks, RSS addicts and Mac freaks. Ok, so I have to admit, sometimes I have no idea what he is talking about, but his writes, and favorite picks are a great way to learn about what is new on the net.
   
3. Patric Welch – Alias Mr. Noobie boils down technology for the very, very novice.  I love his sense of humor when he describes his battles with technology. On the complete opposite end of the spectrum from Louis, but equally fun to read.
4. Is This Stupid? – Tina (aka stupid blogger) defines her site as an outlet to poke fun at some of the stupidest things she comes across. While much of the posts are about tech she doesn’t stop there.  As she says, the Internet doesn’t have a patent on stupid.  whether she is taking on Monkey Spankers or people who want to follow their houseplants on Twitter, she does it with attitude and a great sense of humor!
5. Ok, I’m done..   I know I should have another one, but honestly, by the time I am done reading these four, and the three above..  misc posts on SI and FriendFeed the day is over!

About two months ago I dove into FriendFeed the same way I dive into most social network platforms and tools, because Kyle Lacy sent me a link and said check it out.

Initially I loved it.   Friending lots of folks to get a sense of what was going on, driving all my links to the site as well.  See my first post on the topic,  I thought it would be a great time saver.  Then  I was overwhelmed by the content and backed away.

I have found a balance point, diving into the stream, then following  the trail to individuals who write about things which interest me.  And one of the things which is always of interest to me is whether or not a particular tool has a buiness application.

FriendFeed is a great resarch tool, a bit disjointed, but a good way to track trends and new technology.  i definately knew more about Cuil within hours of it’s launch then I ever thought possible, so it feeds the info junkie part of my nature, but back to the basic question is there a business application for FriendFeed and does there need to be?

Hot Shotz Bar & Grill (96^th
& Gray), a popular hangout for avid Indianapolis networkers, especially, Rainmakers  was shut down due to a kitchen fire.  They need to raise funds
to repair the kitchen so they’re throwing a huge networking event
Thursday, July 10^th – and you’re all invited.  It is a free
event to attend.  Hot Shotz will be there offering 50% off gift cards
as a way to raise the funds they need for repairs.  Please visit their
site for details: http://hotshotzpub.com/

I have been working on building my web traffic to my business site: www.roundpeg.biz for the last few months, carefully documenting what has worked.

The results have been staggering.  Our Alexa Ranking moved from 7,746,293 to 1,333,762 in six months. How did we drive the traffic?  Blog posts, new content, always new content, relevant links on key sites.

Today, I added two more: Squidoo and Technorati Profile. I will be curious to see the results in the next few weeks.

My goal? An Alexa Ranking under 1,000,000

Kyle Lacy raises an interesting question in his post today.  Is blogging a personal hobby or a business tool?  For me, I think blogs are more then just personal journals these days – They are integral parts of a companies marketing strategy.

And as part of your marketing strategy, a bit of shameless self promotion is ok, if it is mixed with real content. If not, it won’t matter, because no one will see it.    In a permission based world, you earn permission to continue to present ideas and information when your audience considers your content valuable.  And if they don’t believe your are providing value, they will choose, to go elsewhere.

Walt Goshert has written a terrific piece about creating a Unique Selling Proposition. Without it, there is no way to develop truely effective marketing. The one point I would add to his comment is the need to begin the process of developing a USP with Focus, Focus, Focus. For a more detailed look at how important I believe this is, check out my May 24th Blog Post on Roundpeg.biz on how to double your sales.

Lorraine Ball talks with Alan Houser of the Creative Component about web branding and the impact on web design.  She also answers questions from readers about brands in general, logos, web analytics and much more.

To hear the interview go to: The Creative Component

Every now and then, I read something that really impacts my views on marketing.   Seth Godin’s Unleashing the Idea Virus - is one such book.  And although it is not a new work, the ideas are as fresh and practical today as they were in 2001 when the book was written.

As I listened to Seth present his ideas on how to make ideas infectious, I knew it was time for me to re-examine my own marketing programs, as well as the role I play supporting friends and referral partners. I would like to think I am a Powerful Sneezer, but am I?

If you have not read or listened to this book, put it on your must read list.   Discover for yourself  what makes a powerful ’sneezer’, how ‘hives’ work, and how critical velocity, vector, medium, smoothness, persistence, and amplifiers can change your business!

Sure all the “big guys” are using social media more and more (generally, social media can be blogs, RSS feeds, podcasts, email marketing, social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Plaxo … all the the “new ways” of marketing using the internet).

But how does a small business use social media in their marketing strategy? Read on to find out!

Want to learn more about how to do this? Check out my upcoming presentation: What is Web 2.0 and why do I care!